The site is important as preserving a rich assemblage of plant species, including some that are locally rare, in a habitat that is widely threatened by intensive agricultural practices.

Each of the fields includes areas that are regularly cut for hay, steep banks that are left uncut, and areas of impeded drainage, which together contain a diversity of species. Alpine bistort, Polygonum viviparum, which is rare in the Pennines, is found on the steep banks, and marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris, is abundant in the wetter patches.[1]